A critical review of RG-I pectin: sources, extraction methods, structure, and applications

Abstract

In recent years, RG-I pectin isolated by low-temperature alkaline extraction methods has attracted the attention of a large number of researchers due to its huge health benefits. However, studies on other applications of RG-I pectin are still lacking. In this study, we summarized the sources (e.g. potato pulp, sugar beet pulp, okra, apple pomace, citrus peel, pumpkin, grapefruit, ginseng, etc.), extraction methods, fine structure and applications of RG-I pectin in physiological activities (e.g. anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-obesity, anti-oxidation, immune regulation, prebiotics, etc.), emulsions, gels, etc. These neutral sugar side chains not only endow RG-I pectin with various physiological activities but the entanglement and cross-linking of these side chains also endow RG-I pectin with excellent emulsifying and gelling properties. We believe that this review can not only provide a comprehensive reading for new workers interested in RG-I pectin, but also provide a valuable reference for future research directions of RG-I pectin.

Keywords:

• Emulsion
• extraction
• gel
• physiological activities
• rhamnogalacturonan-I
• structure

Author contributions

Hui Niu: Writing-original draft, methodology, data curation and formal analysis. Zuman Dou: Writing-original draft, formal analysis and software. Keke Hou: Data curation and formal analysis. Wenduo Wang: Software and formal analysis. Xianxiang Chen: Data curation and formal analysis. Xianwei Chen: Formal analysis and software. Haiming Chen: Funding acquisition, investigation and writing-review and editing. Xiong Fu: Writing-review and editing and supervision.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (32260598) and Hainan Province Science and Technology Special Fund (ZDYF2022XDNY166).